An Angry, Self-Righteous Rant

Supporters can be so fickle.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there was a little story involving Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid during the summer. It was fairly low key so it mostly flew below the radar, but the gist of it was that no sooner than Ronaldo had won the Champions League, he was knee deep in speculation about him moving too Madrid, largely because he wouldn't hush it.

As the summer progressed, more and more ridiculous things were emanating from the Bernabeu, chief of which being Calderon's claim that Madrid would be honoured to have Ronaldo on their team. Honoured!? Ronaldo did what any self-respecting footballer would do of course - he continued to fuel the speculation by remaining largely silent, saying only that he would announce his future plans after the European Championships.

Well, having massively underperformed in the game that saw Portugal crash out, Ronaldo's moment to set the record straight and clear up all this nonsense from Calderon came, and he took the opportunity with both hands by saying that he desperately wanted to move to Madrid and was just waiting on United and Real to settle the monetary issues (with the figures being thrown around more closely resembling a GDP than the price of a slave footballer).

To cut a long and painful story short, Ronaldo didn't get his dream move, because United would rather have left him rot in the stands than sell him. Doesn't that just sound like a lovely club to be a member of?

My point here is that Ronaldo had seemingly no regard for what United have done for him. If it wasn't for Ferguson, he'd be another Queresma, and that's not a good thing. It didn't seem to bother him in the least that he'd be moving away from the club that made him who he is. Had United accepted a bid, he would have been out the door before you could say 'arrogant tool'. He treated the club like dirt, and the only reason - the only reason - he's still there is because Ferguson is the most stubborn man alive.

My question is, what kind of fan reaction should a man like Ronaldo get? A man who considers himself a slave; a man who displays not an iota of loyalty to his club? Well, judging by tonights game against Villarreal, such a man should be applauded when he warms up, and cheered without hesitation when he steps onto the pitch.

The only conclusion to be gained from such a reaction is that fans can be so fickle, so hypocritical, that it makes me wonder what supporting a club really means to anyone.

If you really loved a club and everything it stood for, you wouldn't want someone like Ronaldo at it, no matter how many goals he scores. You see, if all you care about is your club winning, then that's basically saying that all you care about is you winning. You don't care about integrity, you don't care about the means by which something is done - you just care about winning. Why? So you can feel good about yourself and the team you somehow chose to 'support'. If an uncommitted, disloyal person helps you to achieve that goal, then so be it - applaud him onto the pitch, cheer him as he runs up and down the touchline, go wild when he scores another 'surprising' header. It doesn't matter. He makes you feel good after a game, and that's all that counts.

I don't mean to sound on a high horse here (actually, I kind of do), and I'm certainly not painting all fans with the same brush. But if you support a certain team, ask yourself why? Why do you want to see them win? (and saying 'because I support them' is not an adequate answer).

Maybe disloyalty and non-commitment are things that you can tolerate. Maybe you justify that toleration by claiming to care so much about a team that you're willing to forgive those traits so long as the person in question helps your team to win games. Well to that, I would say that you're not a fan of a club - you're a fan of winning, with the club being the means by which you yourself win. There's of course nothing wrong with that. I love winning as much as the next man. But to truly love a club and be a fan has to mean more than just seeing them win at all costs. If it doesn't, then what's the point?

Ronaldo will, in all likelihood, score in a coming game and kiss his shirt badge or something silly like that. Many United fans may rejoice in that moment, but I'll just take a few minutes to be thankful for the fact that I don't support a club, and therefore I don't have to embrace nonsense like that. And honestly, I really pity those who do.